Isotope shifts and hyperfine structure in the transitions of gadolinium

High-resolution resonance ionization mass spectrometry has been used to measure isotope shifts and hyperfine structure in all (J = 2-6) and the transitions of gadolinium (Gd I). Gadolinium atoms in an atomic beam were excited with a tunable single-frequency laser in the wavelength range of 422-429 nm. Resonant excitation was followed by photoionization with the 363.8 nm line of an argon ion laser and resulting ions were mass separated and detected with a quadrupole mass spectrometer. Isotope shifts for all stable gadolinium isotopes in these transitions have been measured for the first time. Additionally, the hyperfine structure constants of the upper states have been derived for the isotopes ^{155, 157} Gd and are compared with previous work. Using prior experimental values for the mean nuclear charge radii, derived from the combination of muonic atoms and electron scattering data, field shift and specific mass shift coefficients for the investigated transitions have been determined and nuclear charge parameters for the minor isotopes ^{152, 154} Gd have been calculated. Received 18 November 1999